Translocated trees axed by Manikonda Municipality

Translocated trees survive for up to 5 years, Manikonda Municipality axed 40 without permission.

What is the extended life of a translocated tree? Five years at the maximum, says the Manikonda Municipality, which has axed a number of translocated trees without any approval from the appropriate authorities.

Some 40 fully grown trees were cut down for creation of a cricket ground in the open space in the backyard of the Lanco Hills township, between March, 2022 and April, 2023.

All these trees, mostly Peltophorum and an occasional Tella Maddi (Terminalia arjuna), were given a second chance for survival after they were removed from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, for a flyover project.

The trees, 100 in number, were given a nod by the tree protection committee for felling to make way for the the flyover between the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and the Malaysian Township in the Kukatpally Housing Board area in 2017.

The translocation endeavour made it to the headlines and was hailed as the citizens’ initiative, as the required funds were raised from the citizens and voluntary organisations.

City-based Vata Foundation had to carry out the translocation in a rather hurried manner. GHMC had initially refused permission, fearing that the time consuming procedure could delay the flyover.

“The project anyway got delayed due to right of way issues, and we were given just two days within which to finish the translocation,” P.Uday Krishna from the Vata Foundation recalled. There was no time to prepare the root balls, so the trees were merely uprooted after pruning of the branches.